


Pomeranian Verse

by agrajag



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Horror, Coming Out, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29764644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrajag/pseuds/agrajag
Summary: [Richie] was in the middle of laying down three kings, knowing this hand was as good as his, when there was a puff of smoke in front of him. He braced himself for Eddie's berating, which, he would have deserved because what the hell? Smoke? What was up with that? He was more worried about getting yelled at than the smoke because sadly that was who he was as a person.Instead of a patented Eddie tirade, however, Richie was met with a growl.Seriously.What. The. Hell?!The smoke cleared, and where Eddie had been sitting, there was now a small dog. One of those ridiculously poofy ones. A Pomeranian! It was holding some playing cards in its mouth, but it still managed to look as if it were frowning despite that, and Richie just knew the dog had to be..."Eds?"Dropping the cards, the dog barked angrily at him.Yeah, it was definitely Eddie.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 30





	Pomeranian Verse

**Author's Note:**

> i saw [this](https://twitter.com/milkypans/status/1362471141214998530) new trend about characters turning into pomeranians and was like "ok so obviously this is reddie" so now we have this
> 
> the body horror tag is for the fact that once eddie starts turning back into a human, it goes slowly and so like that's a little horrific so giving you a heads up for that
> 
> this is set a year after the defeat pennywise as teens and in this universe they did actually defeat him for reals!

The thing was, Richie was an attention hog. He had been as a kid and it definitely didn't stop being true once they teens, even though he was desperately trying to hide his sexuality from everyone, including all of the Losers. 

(Because being thirteen was a teenager! He only had to tell Maggie that twenty times. But, come on. 'Teen' was _in_ the word!) 

Sure, he was terrified that while everyone had their eyes on him, they would notice that his eyes were on Eddie. Like, all the time. He couldn't stop staring at him, though, no matter how hard he tried. Eddie was simply too adorable, that when his nose would crinkle in disgust or he pulled out some hand wipes from his fanny pack, Richie could forget for a moment how scary it was that he found him adorable.

His eyes were adorable, too. And Richie liked it best when his eyes were on him.

So, yeah, he kept telling jokes and doing his voices and being generally annoying just so he could get all the attention he rightfully deserved.

Then they defeated Pennywise, and things started to change around Derry.

Everything didn't magically get better. Adults still sucked, but having evil incarnate living underneath your city apparently made those who were inclined to cruelty more cruel. So with Pennywise gone, they started to thaw out.

Stan's dad wasn't always on his case about religion. There was even a few times where they sat down and had a civilized discussion about Stan's concerns.

Mike's grandparents allowed him to enroll in Derry High School, as long as he promised to help out on the farm when he could. Which was still a decent amount of the time, but he still made it to the arcade to play a few rounds of Street Fighter with Richie every once in awhile.

Bill's parents stopped pretending he didn't exist. That was a big one. The Denbroughs were clearly still grieving, and obviously no one could blame them for that, but neglecting Bill wasn't going to bring Georgie back. In fact, if they hadn't gotten their shit together, they would have lost their other son as well. At least, that's how Richie saw it, but what did he know. He was just a kid.

(Well, not a kid. A teen!)

And then there was Eddie's mom. She no longer held him prisoner at the first sign of a sniffle. She was still wary about germs, and mainly Eddie catching them, and she still wasn't the biggest fan of the Losers. She admitted once Eddie got his cast off, however, that it wouldn't have happened if he didn't 'feel like he had to sneak around' or something like that. She conceded to let him still see the Losers, and Richie couldn't remember a time when he got to hang out with Eddie so much. There would still be days they couldn't see each other, but they were few and far between. Reserved for when Eddie was actually sick, and maybe that was for the best. 

Richie didn't do well when he was sick.

On days when they couldn't get the whole gang together, they tended to break off into groups. Richie usually followed Stan around because that was what they had always done. If pressed to pick, Stan was Richie's best friend. They had known each other since they were toddlers, not meeting Bill and Eddie until school started. Richie knew this meant he should trust him with his life, and honestly? He did. Yet he couldn't trust him with his secret. He had a feeling that Stan wouldn't mind, and maybe would actually be supportive of him, but he just couldn't do it.

He felt as if he could trust Eddie, though.

Maybe it was wishful thinking that his crush would accept him for being gay, since that was one step closer to 'his crush returning his feelings.'

It still took him months to work up the courage to tell Eddie, though, because if he was understanding, that didn't mean he also liked boys. And him possibly also liking boys didn't mean he liked Richie, and Richie kept dumbly getting his hopes up.

He finally bit the bullet two months shy of their one year anniversary.

One year free of that stupid clown.

The best year of Richie's life, and it could only continue going up from there, he told himself.

He and Eddie were sitting in his room, playing Rummy because Eddie was honestly more of a grandpa than Stan was, and Richie's palms were sweating. He was going to tell him. He was! He couldn't help it if he was on a winning streak and kept getting distracted by shoving it in Eddie's face.

He was in the middle of laying down three kings, knowing this hand was as good as his, when there was a puff of smoke in front of him. He braced himself for Eddie's berating, which, he would have deserved because what the hell? Smoke? What was up with that? He was more worried about getting yelled at than the smoke because sadly that was who he was as a person.

Instead of a patented Eddie tirade, however, Richie was met with a growl.

Seriously. _What. The. Hell_?!

The smoke cleared, and where Eddie had been sitting, there was now a small dog. One of those ridiculously poofy ones. A Pomeranian! It was holding some playing cards in its mouth, but it still managed to look as if it were frowning despite that, and Richie just knew the dog had to be...

"Eds?"

Dropping the cards, the dog barked angrily at him.

Yeah, it was definitely Eddie.

"Okay Eds. Don't have a cow." Eddie went to bark again, but fell silent when Richie shushed him. "I'm sorry, Eddie. I just don't want my mom to hear. She finds a strange dog up here, and she's going to flip. Take you away before we can fix this. But what can I do?"

Eddie glared at him, letting out one of those little dog huffs. Like, what does a dog have to huff about? They laze around all day. Such hard work.

Except Eddie wasn't actually a dog, and he had more than enough reason to huff.

"You're right Eddie. We have to take this seriously, and I don't know much that could help us. But hey. Two heads are better than one, right? And Losers stick together."

Richie picked up the receiver of his Cabbage Patch Kid novelty phone and dialed Mike's number. He was the animal guy, after all, so he might know what to do. Right?

"Richie," Mike said with a sigh, once Richie had informed him of the situation. "I don't have time for your jokes today. I'm trying to catch up on homework before Grandpa decides to wheel me into another chore."

"It's not a joke!" Richie insisted. "I can prove it to you!"

"How are you going to do that over the phone, huh?" Mike taunted, clearly enjoying Richie's pain.

So, without even so much as a goodbye, Richie hung up on him. Because Mike was right. What was Richie going to do? Hold up Eddie so he could bark into the receiver? Mike would just think it was Richie barking. And he _was_ pretty good at sounding like a real dog when he barked, thank you very much. He prided himself on _all_ of his voices.

He went straight to his closet and found the largest gym bag he could find and coaxed Dog Eddie to hide inside. At first, he cocked his head to the side, but Richie explained that it was only so they could sneak out of the house without his mom questioning him, if she managed a glimpse as he rushed out the door. The fact that he crawled into the bag without putting up a fight, once Richie had showed there was a reason to the madness, cemented the fact that it had to be Eddie. Not some random dog that popped up in Richie's room after Eddie had disappeared, quite literally, in a puff of smoke.

Like that was a saner explanation.

Richie forced his feet into his Chuck Taylors, forgoing tying the laces as he carefully zipped the gym bag. Eddie whimpered softly from inside, and so Richie ran as fast as he could down the stairs and out the door, yelling out some half thought through excuse to Maggie over his shoulder. Once he was on his bike, he slung the gym bag around his neck and unzipped it far enough so Eddie could peak his head out, but there was no fear that he would go tumbling out.

And with that, they were on their way to the Hanlon farm.

Richie had never pedaled this fast in his life.

Not even during last summer.

He thought he would wear himself out, but he managed to make it without having to take one break. The only times he had to stop were when he got stuck at red lights, and since he didn't have to worry about catching his breath, he took those few seconds to watch Eddie.

To his utter joy, he had caught Eddie's tongue lolling out of his mouth. Apparently there was something in the canine genes that made all dogs love that good old breeze, because Eddie didn't exactly do that when he was in his human form.

Oh, once everything was back to normal, Richie was never going to let him live this down.

But everything wasn't back to normal yet, and Richie did his best to solely concentrate on biking as quickly, yet as safely, as he could.

Boy, oh boy. The Hanlon farm was a sight for sore eyes.

Richie wasn't exactly the outdoor type. Even Eddie liked spending time with nature more than he did, and that was with his insistence of not touching anything dirty, carrying around wipes in his fanny pack, and bitching about the sun the entire time. There was something magical about the farm, though. Richie knew Mike had his own mixed thoughts about the place and, despite the fact that he probably would much rather spend his time elsewhere, he allowed the Losers to congregate there, which Richie loved.

So to say he had never been happier to see the place was truly saying something.

Richie jumped off his bike, letting it fall onto the grass. The Hanlons didn't allow the Losers to bike up the path to the main house, so they always left the bikes propped up against the fence around the pigs's enclosure, but there was no time for that. It wasn't like Richie's bike was nice anyway. He had no qualms throwing it around. He _was_ careful removing the gym bag from around his neck, which he then opened all the way so Eddie could jump out. They made their way up the path then, Eddie trotting besides Richie, which was freaking adorable.

So freaking adorable, even if his little legs made it hard for him to keep up, which was forcing him to literally trot.

Not like that was exactly anything new.

Richie snickered to himself, and when Eddie glanced up at him quizzically, Richie asked if he wanted to be carried so he didn't tire himself out.

Eddie snarled and bit at the cuff of Richie's jeans, so he took that as a no.

They eventually made it to the house, but not before Eddie was panting, his cute little tongue sticking out of his mouth once more. Richie wanted to reach down and give him a reassuring pat, but he fought the urge. Maybe he could technically get away with touching Eddie while he was a dog, because petting a dog wasn't gay, right? Obviously not, but he didn't want to risk it, in case Eddie got angry with him anyway.

Or worse.

Get used to it and have to give it up once Eddie was human again. He could see himself spending the rest of his days battling the desire to run his fingers through Eddie's hair. Which, honestly, looked softer than his dog fur did.

Yeah. No petting.

Richie knocked on the front door rapidly until an irate Mrs. Hanlon finally answered. She sighed when she saw him at first, but then smiled softly.

"I should have known it was you, Richie," she said fondly. "If not for the distinct knocking style, but Mike _did_ say you might be dropping by. Go on, then. He's in his room."

"Thanks Mrs. Hanlon," Richie said, sweet as pie, hoping she wouldn't notice one more animal around, even if it was purposefully following him around, but she had eyes like a hawk, despite her age.

"Oh, did you get a new dog?"

"Sort of...?"

"Did... did _we_ get a new dog?" she asked, studying Eddie.

Now he could try and convince her that was true, but he had a feeling she wouldn't fall for it. However, it was at a point where the Losers shared pretty much everything, so it wouldn't be too far fetched for Mike to keep a dog on the farm for Richie. He could imagine the scenario clearly: He begged Maggie and Went to get a dog, but they just couldn't stand the thought of some mongrel terrizing their home. Mike offered the farm, knowing that one more farm hound wouldn't be an issue, especially if Richie was the one paying for its needs and taking care of it. Too bad Eddie had to turn into a freaking lap dog, but Richie was pretty sure he could sell this.

"He's just staying here, for now," he said. "I'm pretty good at getting what I want, though, so it shouldn't be hard convincing my parents to keep him soon enough."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. He clearly loves you already," Mrs. Hanlon said as Richie had started climbing the stairs and he froze. Eddie bumped into his ankle, whimpering slightly when it squashed his snout. "Well, he's welcome here until you can set that plan into motion."

"Uh, yeah. Thanks Mrs. Hanlon," Richie said, practically spitting the words out.

He ran up the rest of the stairs before he could make a bigger fool of himself. He could hear the tap, tap, tap of Eddie's nails on the hardwood floor as he continued to dutifully follow Richie. It obviously was a bit of a struggle, but Richie didn't even turn around, let alone offer to help. Eddie would have just been typical stubborn Eddie, and rebuff Richie's gesture like he had as they had walked up the path. And his heart couldn't take it, because Dog Eddie's rebuffs were the cutest shit Richie had ever seen, and once that day was more than enough, thank you very much.

Richie waited outside Mike's room until Eddie caught up with him and then he was knocking down the door, obnoxiously loudly once again. He could hear a thunk, followed by a muffled curse from Mike, and then a haphazard shuffle before he threw open the door. He was about to say something, probably about to bitch at Richie, but then he looked down at Dog Eddie (who was wagging his tail excitedly) and his mouth snapped shut. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"You seriously stole someone's poor door for a punch line?"

"I didn't steal a dog!" Richie protested. "I can't believe you would think I would do something like that."

"Okay, fine. You _borrowed_ one."

"I didn't _borrow_ someone's dog. It's Eddie, man. Like I told you on the phone. I couldn't prove it without showing you, and I don't know what else to say. Just look at him and tell me it's not Eddie. He glares at you _just like_ Eddie does."

Eddie glared at him then.

"Okay. That..." Mike pointed to Eddie. "That _was_ pretty Eddie-like."

Mike leaned down, balancing himself by bracing his palms on his knees, and studied Dog Eddie. He mumbled a bit to himself, commenting on how his eyes did look not only 'eerily human' but also pretty 'eerily Eddie' and Richie just kept nodding in agreement.

"Are you in there Eddie?" he asked, and Eddie let out a loud yip.

And then the weirdest fucking thing Richie had ever seen happened.

And he had seen all of Pennywise's crazy fucking forms last summer.

Where Dog Eddie's adorable little nose had been, sprouted a human nose. Mike yelled as he fell back onto his behind as Richie let out a string of colorful curses. The human nose twitched like a dog's would, and Richie just plopped down next to Mike on the ground. Why put up pretenses, since he knew he was close to collapsing next to him? And now that he was closer, he could see that the bridge of the nose was covered in freckles.

It was definitely Eddie's nose!

Maybe that tipped Mike off as well, or maybe it was just the whole human nose that made it easier to, but he believed. He apologized to Richie for not believing him sooner, but he simply waved him off, because that didn't matter at the present moment. What mattered was...

"Can we fix it?"

"Well, I've certainly never read about something like this, even when me and Ben were researching Pennywise."

"Fuck," Richie mumbled.

"Hey, don't get discouraged. His nose appeared. So there _is_ a way to reverse it. What were we doing when it happened?"

"Nothing! We were just staring at him!"

"Okay, but that's not 'nothing,'" Mike said, grabbing Richie's shoulder. "It must mean something."

"If that was the solution, then this should have never happened in the first place, because I'm _always_ staring at Eddie."

Holy shit. Had he actually said that out loud?

Mike, God bless him, didn't interrogate Richie about it.

"Maybe staring and giving him actual attention is the divide," he said. "I know that I was thinking about what would happen if I didn't have Eddie in my life, if it turned out that you were telling the truth. How about you?"

Richie looked over to Dog-With-A-Human-Nose Eddie, who had sat down with his little legs tucked up underneath him. It looked like he had dozed off, and with the little courage Richie had gained from Mike not acting disgusted from his earlier admission, he said, "I was thinking about how I should have told him how I felt when I had the chance."

Eddie barked loudly, and Richie and Mike turned back to see that he was standing up once more. He was holding out his one leg, but instead of a paw, there was a human hand. 

A human hand with a scar on the palm.

Well, definitely no denying it was Eddie now.

"I think we've got this," Mike said as he pushed himself back up and offered his hand to Richie. Richie just shook his head. He lived on this floor now. "I'm going to go help my Grandpa with whatever's been bugging him, and you can have some privacy. Give Eddie the attention he deserves, okay?"

"Uh, okay," Richie said dumbly as Mike left the room.

Ninety-Two-Percent-Still-A-Dog Eddie hobbled over to Richie and gave him a pointed look.

"Hiya Eds," Richie said, running his hand through his hair nervously. "So, I guess I should say... I think I'm gay."

Eddie huffed.

"Okay. I _know_ I'm gay. And I was going to tell you. I swear I was! Today even! But then I got caught up in your stupid card game."

Eddie started barking.

"Fine! That was another excuse to chicken out. I was scared you might hate me. I'm _still_ scared you might hate me. Especially because I know I'm gay because of you."

Eddie reached out with his paw and gently patted Richie's leg.

"I _do_ stare at you _all_ the time," Richie said. Now that he had started, it easily poured out of him. "You're the most handsome boy I've ever seen. I don't know how to behave sometimes, because you're so beautiful."

The paw that Eddie had let rest on Richie's knee slowly turned into a second hand. It was slightly less disturbing than how his nose and left hand had popped back into existence, but it was still jarring. Richie had to fight the urge to jump back, because he didn't want Eddie to move his hand. Definitely not now that he was rubbing a comforting little pattern across the joint.

"But I don't just like you for, like, superficial reasons. I like you because you're brave and stand up for yourself. You have the best taste in comics. You're willing to try new things, even if you have to do a ton of research first. You're ridiculously kind, underneath all that bite. Honestly, I think the only kinder person I know is Ben, and no one can beat him. And I like you... No, I _love_ you because you're the only person who can keep up with me. When we get started, just shooting insults back and forth, I never feel more alive than I do in those moments."

Richie had closed his eyes for the last sentence or two, his courage starting to deplete. He opened them when he heard Eddie clear his throat, and he gasped when he was met with Human-Head-Dog-Body Eddie. He knew he was too far gone since he still found him insanely adorable despite how actually horrifying it was.

"Hiya Eds."

"Stop calling me Eds," Eddie said. It was instinct at this point. "So, uh, did you mean all of that?"

"Every last word."

"Good. Because I love you, too, you asshole."

"I'm so sorry this happened. I promise to give you all the real attention you deserve from now on. I can even start now, if you want. Give you some belly rubs before your human body comes back."

"So help me God, if you put your hand anywhere near my stomach, I _will_ bite you."

Richie was shocked by the laugh that tore through him.

"It's good to have you back, Eddie."

\----------------------------------------------

It took about an hour for Eddie to fully transform back into his normal self. They left a note for Mike and then snuck out of the house, too tired to think of an explanation of how Eddie was suddenly there to feed the Hanlons.

Eddie insisted on pedaling Richie's bike, saying he needed to stretch his legs after being a dog for so long. Richie didn't even argue as he climbed onto the back, holding onto Eddie the way he had always wanted to.

Because now he could!

He even let himself lean in and smell Eddie's hair.

They made it back to the Toziers in one piece, where Maggie chided them for leaving so rudely, but she still made them a snack. As she handed them their pizza rolls, she gave Richie an almost knowing smile, and he thought maybe this whole coming out thing might not be _so_ hard after all.

He still took his time -- making sure he was absolutely ready before telling others. Eddie, on the other hand, usually just blurted it out to anyone and everyone. Which meant dear old Sonia wasn't too clingy when it was time for him to leave the nest. He followed Richie to New York City, and then to Chicago, supportive of his stand up career.

Because Richie still ate up that attention. He loved being in the lime light.

But as soon as he walked off that stage, it was all about Eddie. He never once went back on the promise he had made all those years ago.

Not even when they adopted their own little bundle of fur.

And, no. She was definitely _not_ a Pomeranian.


End file.
